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Friday, March 27, 2015

This charming Bed and
Breakfast offers 17 unique rooms for guests that come to stay in the small
Sierra Nevada Mountain town of Groveland California near the entrance to
Yosemite Park.

Originally built in 1849 this
structure was an adobe trading post. It then was used as a gambling house,
saloon, hotel, Ranger Station, business offices and even a Greyhound Bus Stop.

Hotel at turn of century.

Peggy and Grover Mosley
bought this old run-down building in the 1990s. They spent two years and a
million dollars to renovate this structure.

One room in this hotel is
always in high demand. Room 15 is where Lyle resides. He is the inn’s ghost.
Peggy and her employees enjoy sharing stories about Lyle.

During California’s Gold Rush
this building was considered the finest house on the hill. So when Lyle, a
reclusive miner, struck it rich he took up residence in Room 15.

His new living arrangement
was also convenient for he worked the Spring Gulch Mine nearby. Lyle stayed in
Room 15 for years.

He was found dead in this
room in 1927, underneath him was a box of dynamite one of the tools of his
trade.

Lyle haunts Room 15 and the
area that surrounds it. He was known to be obsessively neat and tidy while
alive and it appears his ghost is the same.

Lyle's Room 15 today.

Female guests that stay in
this room find if they place their cosmetics on Lyle’s dresser he does not like
this clutter for when they return their makeup is no longer on the dresser.
They often discover their items placed on the sink instead.

One female guest even watched
as her makeup flew off the back of the dresser and landed on the floor.

Lyle’s ghost also likes to
mess with the water. Taps are often turned on when no one is around--Peggy and
Grover experienced this when they were the only two in the hotel.

Lyle also turns on the water
in shower stalls in rooms near Room 15 when no one is around.

Another prank he enjoys is
messing with the room door locks near Room 15. Guests return to find their room
keys temporarily do not work.

There is also a romantic tale
told about Lyle. Peggy states that if his ghost has not been active for a while
it means he is visiting The Hotel Charlotte across the street from the
Groveland.

While alive, Lyle had a love
affair with the original owner of this hotel--Charlotte.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

After working for the
railroad for 5 years Nick Yelchick was laid off in 1927. He looked for another
job but found none. Discouraged he started to drink. To his wife’s chagrin he
would come home drunk, tear up the house and then beat her.

Coke ovens Grant Town, WV
circa 1916

Eventually Nick did find work
in the coal mines. But after his first week his need for a drink overwhelmed
him. He asked a buddy if he would punch his timecard so he could get to the
liquor store before it closed.

After Nick ate his lunch he
decided to explore the “played out” parts of the mine. Within a short time he
knew he was lost. The more he tried to find his way to the main line the more
lost he became.

He walked for hours. At one
point when he stopped to rest he realized that no one would know he was missing
since he had asked his friend to punch out for him.

No one knew he was still in
the mine; no one would come looking for him. Even his wife would probably just
think he had gone off on one of his weekend drunks.

When 10 hours had passed his
light burned out. He was now in worse trouble. He stumbled around for 2 more
hours and then exhausted he sat down and fell asleep.

While he slept he dreamed. He
saw his wife’s face on the wall of the mine. She was beckoning to him and she
kept saying, “Follow me.”

He woke up with a start and
saw his wife’s face was still on the wall near where he sat. As he approached--
it moved further down the wall. He chased his wife’s face for several hours
until he reached the main line. Now he could find his way out of the mine.

As he exited the mine’s main
entrance a night watchman approached him and told him his wife had been looking
for him yesterday. “We told her you had gone home.”

Coal Camp at Grant Town

When he reached his home he
found his wife had killed herself. He found her note, it said, “I thought you
would stop drinking when you got this job, but now I know different.”

After this, Nick stopped
drinking. He lived in Grant Town the rest of his life and remained sober until
he died in 1947.